The continued intervention of multinational military forces and law enforcement agencies in Afghanistan is having a positive effect in driving down the heroin trade in the UK.

In an interview during a crime management seminar in London today, SOCA Director General Bill Hughes said that said that the presence of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is “making a difference” in hitting producers and traffickers.

Hughes, who is due to retire from the agency in the coming months, confirmed that law enforcement personnel are working closely with British soldiers in theatre although he was unable to outline the exact nature of their work for security reasons.

He told PoliceOracle.com: “Obviously I cannot give any specific information about this subject but my view is that the operation is very much making a difference.

“Our focus in Afghanistan is on the introduction of the rule of law, and we are liaising closely with the British soldiers who are out there to achieve our objectives.”

Hughes believed that military operations to target troublemakers and take them out of circulation had hit criminal activity while drugs are being seized before being despatched.

He emphasised: “A key development that has come to Afghanistan with the military operation is that there are now secure detention facilities to lock up suspects.”

But Hughes was keen to stress that law enforcement personnel did not have a remit to target farmers who are growing opium poppies. He added that providing alternative crops to agricultural workers remains a matter for the Afghan government.

Together with their counterparts in the Afghan National Police and army, British troops have frequently found and destroyed scores of heroin stashes during their operations.

Well-developed factories have been a common feature of the criminal infrastructure in Helmand province and have been the scene of fierce battles with the Taliban.

The insurgency is believed to be closely linked to the drugs trade, with funds raised from the sales of the substances being used to fund their terrorist activities.

Acting against the drugs trade was one of the stated aims of the British operation in southern Afghanistan when it was first suggested by the then Defence Secretary John Reid in 2005.

During a press conference in Dusseldorf, Germany, he said that most of the heroin “pumped into the blood of British men and women” originated in Afghanistan.